i love coffee. the aroma. the taste. the experience. and lately i have been enjoying taking pictures of my adventures with coffee. i hope you enjoy looking at them as much as i have enjoyed taking them. now sit back, with a cup of coffee of course, and enjoy.

25 September 2012

there's a new coffee shop in town! charlie's coffee house opened last year in the quaint little town of south pasadena.

they brew jameson brown coffee, which is roasted locally in pasadena. i had the house coffee which had hints of almond, cherry & chocolate. it was quite good. i also tried their giant chocolate chip cookie, which wasn't very sweet and a little overpriced. i didn't notice a price tag on the shelf, so i got a bit of sticker shock when it rang up at $3.00. note to self: next time, no cookie.

picture source: yelp

there is plenty of seating inside and out plus a comfy little loft upstairs. on the side of the building there is a little courtyard with a couple of tables and a staircase to the loft area. on the day we visited, all the inside seating was taken, but since we had doggies, we enjoyed the courtyard area.

picture source: yelp

parking is pretty limited in the little lot so you're better off trying to find street parking. there is a cute little lawn area set aside for the doggies to do their business, which is a really nice touch, and very much appreciated.

the barista was very friendly and made us feel right at home. he even brought out a bowl of fresh water for our doggies. bailey was too busy enjoying lap time but aoife went right for it!

if you are looking for a change of scenery, and who isn't these days, add this place to your list of go to coffee shops; plus they have free wi-fi!

20 September 2012

there is a hawaiian themed coffee chain called bad ass coffee of hawaii that is scattered across the country. we happen to have one locally in rancho cucamonga. they are very well branded, with their logo everywhere. they also sell a plethora of branded merchandise, ie caps, tanks, tees, bumper stickers, key chains, cups, mugs... even their tile topped tables are branded.

as soon as you walk in, you are greeted by their bad ass donkey who is standing under a palm tree. (there is another palm tree at the back of the store.) above the counter hangs a surf board with a "100% kona coffee" neon sign mounted to it.

their 12 ounce coffee, served from a pump pot, was a reasonable $1.65. they had a pump pot of vanilla highball sitting out for free samples but it was barely luke warm. i would think if they want to promote a coffee, it should be piping hot. oh well, i settled on their hula pie, which was hot. it had flavors of vanilla, chocolate & macadamia nut.

their creamer & sweeteners sit under a grass awning, adding to the hawaiian feel.

there is a fair amount of seating inside and out. they also have a tv in the front of the store, which was tuned to the jets/steelers game. there was a constant trickle of customers coming in and out of the shop and the employees seemed to know quite a few of them by name. if you are in the neighborhood, give them a try. aloha.

17 September 2012

i was looking for a coffee shop in brea a while ago, so i asked yelp for help. if you don't want starbucks, there aren't many options but number one on the list was the international coffee house. they are tucked away in the brea village, across the street from the brea mall. something a little different about this coffee shop is that there is a pool table in the back of the shop and they also have an open mic night. brew of the day was french roast, so that's what we had.
indoors there are a couple of comfy upholstered chairs but most of the chairs are wood. outside there are two tables that can seat 8 people and there was an ashtray on our table, so beware, smoking is allowed. read last week's post to see why i mention this.

they have been known to have a dog bowl of water on their patio but it wasn't there this morning. it was getting pretty hot out there and the employee saw we were coffeeing with two dogs, so she should have brought it out.

but whatever, i travel with our own water for bailey anyway.

click on the next picture to enlarge it, then look at the reflection in the window. you will see bailey standing next to africa!

12 September 2012

last weekend we went to augie's coffee house in redlands ca. i've heard good things about them and they roast their beans in house, so i was intrigued. it's a cute little coffee shop in a brick red building, you can't miss it. there are only two tables outside so that could be a problem if you are coffeeing with a canine, as we do. there was a steady stream of customers, which is a good sign; some took their brew to go, others enjoyed it indoors. even though the weather was in the upper 90's, we had ours alfresco (or should i say al calore!). today they were serving guatemala la soledad.

10 September 2012

when in temple city, we like to stop in at the roadhouse coffee shop. if you know me, you know i love the independent coffeehouses. they've been there since 1994 and despite starbucks opening up in the same shopping center, they have managed to stay in business. at the roadhouse, i was happy to see they brew coffee from jones coffee roasters, an independent roaster in pasadena, ca. it's like the little guy helping the little guy to succeed. awesome.

the only problem on our visit was that, since bailey was with us, we had to sit outside. that wasn't the problem though. the problem was that we had a smoker to the left of us and a smoker to the right. it was rather disgusting and even doggie was sneezing. however as soon as they left, the air cleared and we could enjoy our brew and the fresh air.